A very Aspie game

Post Reply New Topic

Years before diag, I found that I could find errors in visual patterns quite easily, so I wrote a little game to practice the theory.

Nobody else that I asked to play it could, to any reasonable degree, but I don't think any of the people I asked were also Aspies.

So, if you're a pattern recogniser, I've put the game online at:

http://emptyfortress.com

-There are no ads and I make nothing from it, besides knowing that other Aspies might possibly now enjoy playing it.

Also, I reiterate that I wrote the game a few years ago and I'm not working on it now, so if you find a bug, or it won't run, or it makes you dropkick your computer then I apologise, but that won't change any time soon.

Those caveats in place, Click around, see what everything does, and fix patterns.
Just click the tiles that you think are incorrect.
If you don't like the mosaic you're playing, click the button in the top left to generate a new one, OR enter any word or string into the Name field just to the right of it. Anybody else can play the game and enter that same word to get the same mosaic with the same errors.
As you get better the mosaics grow more complex. Also, the better you are, the more damage you do to surrounding tiles when you make a mistake.
You can toggle colour/monochrome with the triple dot button in the top right.

Think that's everything. Hope you enjoy =]

What's the object of the game?

Find the incorrect tiles within a symmetrical patterned mosaic, and click them.

Just completed 3 shapes, it's a really fun little game

Sorry, but I don't get this game at all. Even when I flip the correct tiles around to complete the level, I don't really see much of a pattern at all.

Ace, thank you for saying so =]

It'll remember all your experience and everything for next time you play, too.



No apology necessary sir =]

On the first few stages when the mosaics are small, there's only the bare minimum of symmetry to go on; maybe a single repeat in each direction. The centre of symmetry isn't always in the middle of the pattern. Sometimes there is no centre of symmetry, and it's a horizontal or vertical pattern instead. -But there's always at least one correct copy in the pattern of each incorrect tile on which to base your decision.

Also, you may find it easier if you click the Toggle colour button in the top right, but I suppose that would depend on how you're wired; Honestly I find it just as easy either way. The colouring works how you'd hope it would, I think; it always matches the pattern of the tiles. Colour does not correspond to the four types of tile.

Basically, if you see a tile that you think is out of place, find two or more of its "clones" in the pattern, then decide between them which is actually wrong.

Pretty neat game, thanks for sharing.

One thing: default zoom level seems too far out. I had to click 'zoom in' several times for it to fill the screen. Maybe that's because my resolution is 1920x1080 though.

You're more than welcome, thanks for playing.

Yeah I'm on the same resolution. There was a version that got screen res and resized the tiles accordingly, but I found myself holding my head further from the screen, feeling a bit dazzled. Ultimately I found I preferred a fair amount of margin so that ended up as the default.

This is really neat, you did a good job! I like playing it because it also takes this type of thinking in art when you're looking at a visual reference and want to flip it mentally to draw it the opposite way. Of course the modern cheat is to use the flip function in photoshop but when drawing by hand or where there isn't a computer, I flip the images mentally.

How do you write a program like this? Is there software that helps you create it? Is it javascript?

OHai fellow linux user, thank you very much.

Yes, it's pure vanilla JS/HTML5/CSS, with nothing on the server besides http. Game storage is all localStorage so I don't have to advertise cookie use etc. Actually, you could easily hack it by using the browser console (CTRL+SHIFT+J) and messing with what's in localStorage.

Only problem is that it's not always obvious which direction a tile will flip. That caused me a lot of trouble playing this game.

There's always at least three of a tile present in the pattern, so it should always be possible to make a logical decision. Thank you very much for having a go =]

I think this game is amazing! And that's not hyberbole, either. The colours are beautiful, they appeal to my joy in sensory stuff. I tried it before I read about it being about symmetry, I just instinctively knew that's the way it was right. I can usually find the first few easily and then spend a few minutes looking for the last bit- usually one that's a dark colour.
I really like detangling bits of string, this game appeals to the same part of my brain. Getting everything symmetrical and balanced is just really peaceful and calming.
I will now have to see if it works on my kindle fire, so I can play it more often!

Thank you for the game. It's very interesting.

Neat game. I like how it doesn't have a timer or penalize you for making guesses. Some of the puzzles are a little tricky, but the lack of pressure makes them more manageable.